Clovers and How to Grow Them

by Thomas Shaw

The yield of hay from each cutting will, of course, vary much with conditions, but it is seldom less than a ton. An approximate average would place the average cutting at about 1¼ tons, but as much as 2 tons have been obtained per acre at a cutting, and, again, not more than ½ ton. In New Jersey an average of 4.57 tons per acre was obtained under good conditions of management, but without irrigation, at the experiment station for three years in succession. In Kansas, 4 to 6 tons per acre may usually be expected from good soils. In Tulare County, California, as much as 6 to 10 tons have been secured under irrigation.

The yields from the various cuttings are by no means uniform, especially in the absence of irrigation. They are much influenced by rainfall. In such areas, the second cutting is usually the best for the season, the subsequent cuttings being considerably less. Where irrigation is practiced, the crops are much more uniform, but even in mild climates, as the season advances, there is a tendency to lesser yields, indicative of the necessity of at least partial rest for plants during a portion of the year. The yields of alfalfa are usually exceeded by those of no other crop, where the conditions are quite favorable to its growth, even in the absence of irrigation. At the New Jersey Experiment Station, as stated in Bulletin No. 148, one acre of alfalfa produced 36,540 pounds of green food; of corn, 24,000; of red clover, 14,000; of crimson clover, 14,000; of millet, 16,000; of cow peas, 16,000; and of oats and peas, 14,000 pounds. But where only two, or even three, cuttings can be obtained per year, some crops may produce larger yields than alfalfa. In the distinctive alfalfa belt in the West, no forage crop can be grown that will compare with it in the yields obtained. The protein in alfalfa is also relatively high. At the station quoted above it was found one ton of alfalfa contained 265 pounds of protein; hence, its high relative value as a food; red clover, 246 pounds; timothy, 118 pounds; and wheat bran, 118 pounds. At the Delaware Experiment Station, in Bulletin No. 55, it is stated that maximum crops of cow peas and of crimson clover gave 720 pounds of protein, while a maximum crop of alfalfa gave 1230 pounds.

Where alfalfa is irrigated, it is usual to apply irrigating waters just after each cutting of the crop. It is a matter of some importance that the water shall be applied at once as soon as the previous crop has been harvested, otherwise time will be lost in growing the next crop. There are instances where it is necessary to apply water before the first crop is grown, but usually the moisture which falls in the winter and spring will suffice to produce the first crop of the season. Some irrigators apply water some time previous to harvesting the crop, but not so late as to leave the ground in a soft condition when mowing is begun. The amount of water required will vary with the soil, the season of the year, the distance of the ground water from the surface, and the precipitation. The more porous the soil and subsoil, the hotter the weather, the less the precipitation and the farther below the surface, up to a certain limit, the greater will be the amount of water needed. There are situations, as in some of the islands in the Yellowstone River, in which ground water is so near the surface that alfalfa grown on these is able to get enough of water from this subterranean source to produce good crops. Care should be taken not to apply water in excess of the needs of the crop, or the yields will be proportionately reduced. The amounts that will best serve the end sought can only be ascertained by actual test. Caution is also necessary where the winters are cold not to apply water late or in excessive quantities, lest a sappy condition of the plants shall be induced, which will make them succumb to the cold of the winter following. Moreover, on some soils alfalfa fields will produce good crops, if irrigated only the first season, until the roots get down to moisture, the irrigating waters being utilized when more needed.

Alfalfa hay is fed freely to all kinds of domestic animals on the farm, and with results that should prove highly satisfactory. Properly fed, it is an excellent food for horses and mules. It not only serves to maintain flesh, but it is favorable to glossiness in the coat. Horses that are working hard should be accustomed to it gradually. When it is fed to them too freely at the first, it induces too much of a laxity in the bowels, too free urination, and profuse sweating. When fed to such horses or mules, some authorities claim that several weeks should be covered in getting them on to what is termed a "full feed" of alfalfa. When fed to milch cows, free lactation results. Alfalfa fine in character is now manufactured into food suitable for calves and other young stock. Cattle and sheep are now fattened for slaughter on alfalfa hay fed alone, but when thus fattened the finish made is not equal to that resulting from adding grain to the alfalfa. To meet the needs of the best markets, alfalfa alone does not produce enough of fat or of firmness in the flesh, but it has been claimed, and probably it is true, that one-half the amount of grain required for finishing along with carbonaceous fodder, such as corn stalks or timothy, will give equally good and quick increase when fed with alfalfa hay. It is most excellent fodder on which to grow cattle and sheep, even in the absence of a grain supplement. The later cuttings of the season are thought to be the most suitable for calves and also for sheep and lambs, because of the greater fineness of the fodder and the greater abundance of leaves on it. Alfalfa hay is used with much advantage in wintering swine, especially brood sows. Swine have been wintered on alfalfa hay without any grain supplement where the winters are mild, but they will fare much better with a grain supplement. It is thought that half the usual amount of grain fed will produce equal results when fed with alfalfa, to those obtained from feeding a full allowance of grain in its absence. Alfalfa and sorghum properly grown make an excellent food for swine, and the two may be profitably fed thus where the conditions may be over-dry for corn, but not for sorghum. When feeding alfalfa, the aim should be to use it in conjunction with a carbonaceous food, as corn. Fortunate is the country which grows good crops of corn and alfalfa.

Securing Seed.—Localities differ much in their capacity to produce alfalfa seed. The best crops of seed are now grown west and southwest of the Mississippi River. Certain areas in the semi-arid country east of and between the ranges of the Western mountains seem to have special adaptation for growing seed. At the present time the greatest seed-producing States are Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and California. But in some areas east of that river paying crops can be grown. It has also been noticed that when the crop is sown less thickly than it is usually sown for hay, the plants seed more freely, when sown with sufficient distance between the rows to admit of cultivating the crop, and when such cultivation is given, the influence on seed production is also markedly favorable; such treatment given to the varieties of recent introduction may possibly result in the production of seed from the same, notwithstanding that they bear seed very shyly when grown in the ordinary way.

Nearly all the seed now grown in the United States is produced by fields that have been sown in the usual way, and primarily to produce hay, but in some areas, especially where irrigation is practiced, it is sometimes grown mainly for seed. On the irrigated lands of the West it is customary to grow the first cutting of the season for hay and the second for seed. But in many instances the second cutting also is made into hay, and the seed is taken from the third cutting; even in the States east of the Mississippi, and also in Ontario and Quebec, seed is usually taken from the second cutting. But in Montana, Washington and Idaho, on the higher altitudes, seed is not unfrequently taken from the first cutting for the season, since, in the short season for growth of those uplands, seed from cuttings later than the first does not always mature so well. In a large majority of instances seed does not form so profusely from plants of the first cutting as from those of later growths. This is thought to arise, in part, at least, from the fact that bees, and it may be other insects, are then less active in searching for food, and because of this do not aid in the fertilization of the plants as they do later. Nor does seed of the first cutting ripen so evenly. An important justification is also found for taking seed from the later cuttings, in the fact that when a crop has produced seed, it grows less vigorously during the subsequent period of growth that same season. So pronounced is this habit of growth in alfalfa, that in many localities, if the first growth is allowed to produce seed, but little subsequent growth will be made again the same season. The second cutting, all things considered, is the most favorable to seed production, as, unless on irrigated lands, the third cutting is not usually possessed of that vigor necessary to induce abundant seeding in the plants.

The yields of seed are also much influenced by moisture. An excess of moisture is more unfavorable to the production of seed than a shortage in the same. Hence, in areas where the rainfall for the season is very abundant, but little seed will be produced. Where irrigation is practiced, the excessive application of water would have a similar effect, though less pronounced in degree; hence, the apportionment of the water to the prospective needs of the seed crop calls for careful adjustment. Where the first crop is grown for seed, where irrigation is practiced, in many instances no water is applied until after the seed crop has been harvested.

The seed is ready for being harvested when a majority of the seed-pods assume a dark brown tint. The pods of later formation will still possess a yellow tint, and some of them may still possess the green color. These do not produce seed nearly equal in quality to the pods which ripen earlier. To wait for all the later maturing pods to ripen before harvesting the crop would mean the loss of much of the best seed through shattering. Another test of maturity is made by shelling the pods in the hand. When the seed can be thus shelled in a majority of the pods in a single plant, it is ready for being harvested. Alfalfa seed shatters easily; hence, it is important to harvest the seed crop with promptness when it is ready, to handle it with due carefulness, and in some instances to refrain from handling during the hottest hours of sunshine.

The seed crop is sometimes cut with the mower and raked into winrows, and in some instances put up into cocks. When it is handled thus, the aim should be to do the work, as far as this may be practicable, in the early and late hours of the day, but not, of course, while much dew is on the crop. Sometimes the seed is drawn from the winrows to the thresher; in other instances from the cocks, and in yet other instances it is stacked before being threshed, a work that calls for the exercise of much care in the storing of the crop, lest the seed should be injured by heating in the stack. This method of harvesting is usually attended with much loss of seed.

There is probably no better way of harvesting alfalfa than to cut it with the self-rake reaper or the binder. The loose sheaves dry quickly, and when lifted, the aim is to carry them directly to the thresher. Less seed, it is considered, will be lost in this way than by the other mode of harvesting given above, and the work is more expeditiously done. But owing to the difficulty in securing a thresher to thresh the seed, it is sometimes found necessary to stack the crop, but in areas where irrigation is practiced such stacking is seldom necessary.